Cloudberry Backup Overview

It’s not easy to choose the best online backup service: I’ve tested countless offerings from different companies over the years, and while each one has unique strengths and weaknesses, at the core they all seem to work the same way.

You subscribe to a service, install the software, tweak a few settings and then the program whisks your files away to a (hopefully) reliable and secure cloud.

CloudBerry Backup, however, is a completely different animal, unique from most of the other services in our online backup reviews library. Unlike traditional cloud backup services, CloudBerry does not include bundled storage space and will not store files. Since you’re probably scratching your head right now, let me explain.

The CloudBerry Backup software functions as a dashboard that allows you to create and manage backup plans for storage on other cloud platforms like:

Amazon S3

Microsoft Azure

Google Cloud Storage

Rackspace

Backblaze B2

It allows you to choose a preferred storage provider and turns their raw storage space into a powerful, functional backup utility.

Who is CloudBerry Backup for?

Now, I imagine there are two types of people reading this review. Those with an IT background or cloud experience should be intrigued by the prospect of linking a variety of their cloud storage accounts and converting them into one powerful, flexible backup tool.

Anyone without experience in this specific area has probably never heard of most of the cloud storage platforms that CloudBerry supports.

If you’re in the second group, don’t worry. CloudBerry Backup definitely targets industry professionals and may not meet the needs of someone looking for a simple, no-fuss solution.

If you just want to make sure the kids’ soccer videos, that novel you never finished, or the thousands of pictures of your cat are safely backed up, look into solutions like CrashPlan or Backblaze who get the job done in a much simpler manner. Use our best cloud storage providers comparison tool to narrow down the field.

However, if you’re an IT pro with many cloud storage accounts, multiple computers and servers under management; or you need professional features that basic tools don’t offer, CloudBerry may just be the right solution.

About Cloudberry

CloudBerry Lab was founded in 2011 with the release of CloudBerry Explorer, a free tool for file browsing and management in Amazon S3. CloudBerry Backup launched one year later.

Since then, CloudBerry has continued to add additional features and functions while expanding to more cloud platforms, operating systems and databases.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

256-bit AES encryption

Image-based backup

Support for many different platforms

Local backup, cloud backup and direct cloud-to-cloud backup

Restore images as VMs in the cloud (Amazon EC2 or Azure VM)

Bare metal restore

Restore backups to new and different hardware

Data deduplication

One-time payment

Weaknesses

No included storage

Requires third-party storage

Not for casual users

No image-based backup

No block-level backup with Linux or Mac

No mobile apps

No native sharing/syncing

No telephone support

Plans & Pricing

70% – Decent

While most cloud backup providers charge a subscription for a certain number of computers and gigabytes, CloudBerry works and charges differently. Since there is no included storage, CloudBerry charges a one-time license purchase, instead of a subscription.

Since this includes no storage, it doesn’t represent your total backup costs. If you prefer using a separate cloud provider, the one-time license fee may be appreciated to avoid another subscription.

However, for those of us that hang on to a huge amount of data (I’m almost at 3TB and I know many of you have that beat), the lack of unlimited storage could mean higher prices even with low-cost options, like Amazon Glacier.

Features

100% – Excellent

Since CloudBerry works differently, it has a number of features that stand out.

With zero storage space you must connect to one or more of the 65 (yes, 65!) supported storage destinations. The software also includes local and the rare cloud-to-cloud backup options. Backing up cloud storage often gets overlooked, but studies show up to 32 percent of companies report cloud data loss mostly due to human error.

With any paid version and a compatible storage provider, you can enable file encryption with the caveat that you cannot access encrypted files outside of CloudBerry’s software.

The server and database versions add many professional features, including direct-from-cloud restoration using a USB flash drive. Restoration also works on new or different hardware which helps greatly for migrations . To save space and bandwidth, CloudBerry utilizes block-level backups, synthetic full backups and supports compression (with certain providers).

One of the most impressive features of CloudBerry is its ability to restore server images to Hyper-V, VMware and even cloud-based virtual machines in Amazon EC2 or Azure VM. This means that in the event of a server crash, you could have a fully functional virtual server, running in the cloud within minutes.

It should be noted that while CloudBerry does support Mac and Linux, there are some limitations compared to the Windows version. CloudBerry does not presently support full image backups or block-level backup with Mac or Linux. Hopefully these features will find their way into a future release.

The huge array of features and options makes CloudBerry Backup a truly niche product. Those who know what they’re doing will absolutely love the power and flexibility, while those just looking for a basic backup tool will undoubtedly feel a bit overwhelmed.

Speed & Peformance

100% – Excellent

Any time I test a new backup service, I always want to know how fast it is.

CloudBerry Backup again makes it hard to compare against traditional solutions in this category. Since all file transfers happen directly to the third-party, I immediately realized that my tests would not judge CloudBerry itself, but the other storage providers.

First, a quick check of my internet speeds shows fairly quick speeds with a download of almost 122 Mbps and upload around 34 Mbps.

Then I ran a backup and restoration with each service using a 5GB demo folder, filled with a mix of small and large files. The results were very good, but do show a best-case scenario. Since CloudBerry doesn’t support encryption or compression using either of my chosen services, I could not select those options, which would have slowed have slowed the process.

Speed test with 5GB test folder:

Google Drive

OneDrive

Average upload

26.5 Mbit/s

19.5 Mbit/s

Average download

96 Mbit/s

81.2 Mbit/s

Total time upload

25:08

34:11

Total time download

6:56

8:12

Google took the lead but both performed well. Further testing will be necessary to determine speeds on other platforms or with encryption and compression enabled.

Online Backup

80% – Good

Backing up in CloudBerry requires a lot of setup. You must individually add all cloud storage accounts, and then create custom backup plans. Although CloudBerry includes a few predefined plans, unless you only want to back up your “My Documents” folder these likely won’t meet your needs.

Creating a backup plan requires you to choose:

Local to Cloud, Cloud to Cloud, or Cloud to Local

Source storage provider

Plan name

Backup mode (Advanced, Simple, or Custom)

Source folders

Highly detailed advanced filter options (see image)

Compression and encryption

Custom retention policy

Detailed scheduling

Notification options

This list doesn’t even begin to drill down to the individual options available within each section. With such a high degree of control, CloudBerry Backup has only one major problem that happens to also be its greatest strength: choice.

While I usually think of choice as a wonderful thing, this much choice creates a bit of a dilemma.

I personally love having the extreme detail and granularity, but I can’t imagine recommending the product to anyone without an IT background. It’s just too complicated compared to many of the alternatives.

Security

100% – Excellent

You can make CloudBerry a top-tier product when it comes to security, but the level of security depends on your choice of storage partner.

CloudBerry uses SSL encryption in transit, but the ability to encrypt on the source side and at-rest changes between providers. In my testing with Google Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive, CloudBerry indicated that client-side encryption was “not supported yet.”

With a compatible partner, CloudBerry supports up to 256-bit AES encryption on the client-side. As CloudBerry explains, many backup companies support only server-side encryption which presents some problems. You can’t control the encryption key or verify implementation, and anyone with your credentials (including sneaky, possible NSA double-agent employees of the backup company) could access your data.

In this way, CloudBerry’s client-side encryption can greatly enhance security at your storage provider. Without your personal encryption password, no one can see your files even if they gain access to your storage account. Make sure you don’t lose your password, or no one can help you.

File Restoration

100% – Excellent

Restoring files in CloudBerry Backup proved similar to backing up. Once the detailed configuration was complete, transfer rates were quick and approached my maximum bandwidth.

In order to configure a backup plan you have to choose:

Storage account

One time vs. scheduled

Restore type

Source files and folders

Destination options

Notifications

While some of these sound standard, take a look at some of the options. Once again, IT folks will love this level of control, but everyday users may wish for a simpler product.

File Syncing and Sharing

Syncing, sharing and collaboration options do not exist within CloudBerry Backup itself. Once files get moved to your storage destination of choice, you can switch to that application directly for sharing and sync (if supported) only if you didn’t select encryption within CloudBerry.

Though I can imagine big development challenges, a CloudBerry cross-platform syncing and sharing tool with encryption support sounds great. Since I’m discussing a completely hypothetical product, maybe it can also do my taxes and order the perfect gift for my wife’s birthday.

A guy can dream.

Mobile Access

CloudBerry has no mobile app. Just like the issues facing cross-platform syncing and collaboration, I can certainly imagine significant problems developing one app that could handle mobile access to such a vast array of cloud storage providers.

Accessing third-party providers would require a degree of support and collaboration from the other companies which may not want clients straying from their own branded apps.

Also, a huge potential for problems exists as any one of these partners making changes could break access for CloudBerry. Most developers have enough to worry about with their own software, but CloudBerry would have to monitor their own plus keep tabs on all of their partners.

As much as a mobile app would bring added convenience, it’s easy to imagine why it hasn’t been developed yet.

Web Access

65% – Decent

CloudBerry Web Access only supports Amazon S3 and requires your PC or server to function as the host with CloudBerry Backup actively running. It’s not the most fully-features web portal we’ve seen, but it gets the job done.

Support

80% – Good

CloudBerry uses a ticket-based support system initiated either from the website, within the software or via email.

I’m used to support tickets going unanswered for days with other providers, so my expectations were fairly low. I submitted a test ticket with a simple feature question on Friday at 1:31 p.m. and received an actual human response by 2:02 p.m.

Not too bad.

For the second test, I had received a backup failure due to insufficient space, but decided to play dumb and test CloudBerry’s after-hours support. Ticket number two went out at 9:20 p.m. on Saturday evening and I planned to wait until Monday morning for a response.

Surprisingly, I received one at 5:30 a.m. the next morning from a tech who actually reviewed my attached error logs and answered correctly.

While this second response took a bit longer, it still impressed me considering it was after-hours on a weekend.

Overall, I was fairly impressed with CloudBerry’s support system, though I did not have the opportunity to make use of the service’s phone support line.

Bottom Line

CloudBerry Backup proved difficult to review and compare to traditional cloud backup tools. It’s a fundamentally different type of product and ultimately I’m still a bit divided. The IT guy in me loves the chance to roll up my sleeves up and tweak an endless array of options and settings.

The “provides-free-IT-support-to-friends-and-family” part of me realizes I can’t recommend CloudBerry to a non-technical user, without configuring and supporting it all by myself. Basically, when my mother-in-law needs to backup, I’m going to recommend something simple, like Backblaze.

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The truth is, there’s nothing wrong with being different.

CloudBerry Backup knows their target audience well and has crafted a unique tool to meet their particular needs. While it may not be the right solution for everyone, it absolutely succeeds in doing what it was designed to do.

Thanks for reading and if you have thoughts and opinions on CloudBerry Backup be sure to jump into the conversation in the comment section below.

Cloudberry Backup Review

Amazing flexibility aimed at tinkerers

Cloudberry allows you to store file on a cloud storage system of your choice (Amazon S3, Google Cloud, Azure and many more). They never store your files but rather provide an easy to use interface to manage all your backups in one place.

6 thoughts on “Cloudberry Backup”

Thanks for the well written and comprehensive review.
With Crashplan Home being discontinued I’m interested in moving my mere 500GB into a more assured long term storage.
I “guestimate” my storage costs around $35/year based on S3 Glacier but probably need to allow for an additional $10-20 in retrieval charges (is upload really free?)
My question – Would this be a realistic and pragmatic solution for a personal backup plan?
Keen for other options/recommendations
Thanks

Cloudberry backup allows you to backup to local storage then it can automatically backup that to the cloud for disaster protection. Using S3 with the Glacier option is cheap, $0.005/GB/month and yes no upload charges. It’s the best both worlds. Local backup for quick restore and the cloud if the house burns down. It supports efficient block level incremental, but allows file restore. I’ve looked at a lot of back programs. This is the best by far. Be warned though, it does require some effort to learn how to configure and use. Previously I used Crash Plan and it was too inefficient

Just as Rem I’m a Crashplan Home user on the lookout for a new setup and after trying Arq Backup for the 30 days trial I was not that impressed despite the good opinions it has around the web.

Cloudberry looks good BUT, I’ve got around 750GB of family DSLR photos from ~10 years, HD video (~7 years of iPhones), ripped music collection (FLAC) and regular “My Documents” (office, pdf archive, scripts, source code, wife’s full professional documents and so on). Nothing out of the ordinary I think. But what this and most other reviews failes to mentioned is the artificial 1TB storage limit CloudBerryLabs has on all but the $299 Ultimate version..I will probably reach this limit in 1-2 years having small kids and using iPhones with HD or even 4K cameras..

Thanks for commenting, Mike. The 1TB limit has actually been bumped to 5TB. There’s actually a link to apply for more capacity, too. The page doesn’t mention any extra cost for increasing that limit, but I’m going to reach out to see if I can get clarification. You’re correct, anyway, that we should mention that in our review, so I’ll make the updates once I get word from CB. Thanks again! https://www.cloudberrylab.com/backup/windows.aspx

Cloudberry Backup Review

Amazing flexibility aimed at tinkerers

Cloudberry allows you to store file on a cloud storage system of your choice (Amazon S3, Google Cloud, Azure and many more). They never store your files but rather provide an easy to use interface to manage all your backups in one place.